Description

The New York Times‒best-selling series!"Carson joins the ranks of writers like Kristin Cashore, Megan Whalen Turner, and Tamora Pierce as one of YA's best writers of high fantasy."--LocusIn the deeply satisfying conclusion to the bestselling Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen Elisa travels into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny.Elisa is a fugitive in her own country. Her enemies have stolen the man she loves in order to lure her to the gate of darkness. As she and her daring companions take one last quest into unknown enemy territory to save Hector, Elisa will face hardships she's never imagined. And she will discover secrets about herself and her world that could change the course of history. She must rise up as champion--a champion to those who have hated her most. Riveting, surprising, and achingly romantic, Rae Carson has spun a bold and powerful conclusion to her extraordinary trilogy.show more

Review quote

"This is a spell-binding book. It is not often that all three books in a series are equally enthralling. Those who love Tamora Pierce and Kristen Cashore will love the tales of Elisa."--Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)show more

Back cover copy

The champion must not waver.The champion must not fear.The gate of darkness closes.Elisa is a fugitive.Her enemies have stolen the man she loves, and they await her at the gate of darkness. Her country is on the brink of civil war, with her own soldiers ordered to kill her on sight.Her Royal Majesty, Queen Lucero-Elisa nee Riqueza de Vega, bearer of the Godstone, will lead her three loyal companions deep into the enemy's kingdom, a land of ice and snow and brutal magic, to rescue Hector and win back her throne. Her power grows with every step, and the shocking secrets she will uncover on this, her final journey, could change the course of history.But that is not all. She has a larger destiny. She must become the champion the world has been waiting for.Even of those who hate her most.show more

Customer reviews

The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson is the thrilling finale of the Fire and Thorns trilogy! There will most definitely be spoilers for the first two books, so just go read them now because this trilogy is awesome sauce. If you have read the first two (yey!), then I am happy to report that I loved The Bitter Kingdom even more than the first two books! It has more action, it has more exploration, it has more kissy times!
Note: I received The Bitter Kingdom ARC from a friend. Some things may be different in the final version.
Strengths:
I love the action-packed start of The Bitter Kingdom (remember there is a silly boy to rescue?) and it honestly never lets up. But I mean that in a good way. I sometimes get stressed when books are too action-packed, but The Bitter Kingdom was just perfect.
There are a lot of mysteries around the Godstone and the history of the world that we get to find out about in The Bitter Kingdom. I seriously feel like there needs to be a text book called "History of All that Awesome Stuff" just for this trilogy.
Elisa freaking rocks. She was pretty awesome before, but she just gets awesome-er (it's a word! .) Right from the beginning I have loved having a main character who struggled with her self-confidence and wasn't model-thin because Elisa has shown over and over again that she is freaking awesome BECAUSE of who she is. Can we be friends please now?
I love adorable, scrappy children; I just want to hug them.
We finally get some happy romance action and not just from the people you expect *wiggles eyebrows*
There were so many great quotes involving self-esteem and power in The Bitter Kingdom, but they are pretty spoiler-y, so I won't include them, BUT THEY ARE THERE!
Weaknesses:
There are actually about four major adventures/plotlines going on in The Bitter Kingdom. They moosh together well, but I really felt like it could have been split into two books so that my brain didn't melt quite so much.
There is a lot of potential for more world-building and revelation in this world and I want it. This can't be the last book pleeeeeeaaaaaase!
There were a couple of conversations in The Bitter Kingdom that I kept expecting to happen and they never did. I was looking forward to them and they were alluded to need to happen, so why didn't they happen? D:
Summary:
The Bitter Kingdom was a phenomenal finale to this trilogy. Elisa is definitely my favorite MC ever now. My complaints pretty much stem from feeling not quite finished with this story and world. I think that a prequel trilogy would be absolutely perfect though . Just saying ;-). But in any case, buy The Bitter Kingdom asap because it will make you happy.show more